Runaway Retreat - What Fun!!!

This is the emblem on the t-shirts we ordered for the Runaway Quilters Retreat in Maple Mount, KY, this year - pretty cool, huh?  And in my favorite color too - BLUE!!!

My friend Joanne and I drove down early Monday morning for the Big Monday event.  Before last year, Runaway always ran from Tuesday through Friday at lunch, but last year they opened up the option to pay for an additional day/night if you wanted it.  Last year, I won a door prize for a FREE Big Monday this year, so it was a no-brainer that I would go down early :*D

Runaway has lots of class options (at no charge), or you can simply choose to sign up for Sit-n-Sew for one or more days in the Auditorium....

Vview of the Auditorium from my table....

I usually just sign up for Sit-n-Sew, because if you take a class, you have to move everything to the classroom - you can't leave some things in the auditorium until you return.  It's like having to move house every day!  I learned that lesson the hard way my first year.  This year I did sign up to teach a class, but it was scheduled on Friday so I was able to sew every day without having to move until the night before we left :*D

There were quilt displays everywhere you looked.  We all especially love the quilts they hang over the railings in the open garden area at the center of the Retreat Center.  They took them down for several days this year because it looked like rain, and I never got a picture of a really divine Blue-and-White quilt hanging out there, but here are a couple of my favorites that I snapped before they disappeared...

I will definitely be making one of these real soon!!!

I don't care for Halloween, but I love pumpkins, and jack-o-lanterns are fun!!!

I love this quilt below that was taught by Denise Stewart - Sexy Hexy Love quilt by Amy Butler.....(click on the quilt name for a pdf of the pattern!)  I would love to make one of these someday too.  Don't you think it would make a wonderful teen quilt?  I was kicking myself for not signing up for the class!!!

This one with Elvis prints was really cute!!!

And then we saw these wonderful tiny granny squares springing up on design walls in the Auditorium... it was love at first sight!  These squares end up only 1 inch!!!  Another class I should have taken!!!  But we found out the pattern is available free HERE.

This is the first year that I taught a class at Runaway.  I decided to start with something fun and really simple, so I offered to teach Runaway to Bali......

This quilt is made from a pattern by Lyn Brown called Staycation.  I used a gorgeous aqua batik for the background and a Bali Pop for the color pops.  Don't you just love that backing fabric???  It's an oriental print that I had picked up for $2 a yard when one of our local shops went out of business :*)

I put this quilt together during sit-n-sew my first year at Runaway, and quite a few people stopped at the table and wanted to know if I would teach it the next year.  I didn't feel comfortable trying to teach last year, but I've since taught several classes at our local shops and decided to jump in and offer to teach it this year.  This is the class sample I put together to make sure I remembered how to put the main block together....

I really like this color play too.  The more I looked at it during class, the more I think I will put together 5 more blocks and make a baby quilt out of it :*)  A baby would LOVE those bright colors!!!

Thankfully, the class turned out really well!  I had 7 students, and it was only for half a day, so things moved quickly.  I wanted each one to at least finish up one large block and they came through with no problems, except for one girl who didn't care for her center accent piece and decided to go home and choose another fabric before putting her blocks together.  Here are the completed blocks - they did a great job in choosing their color schemes, don't you think?

Denise's black and white prints just sparkle on that rich red background!

Sonya's Batiks in similar colors to my original - her greens were to die for!!!

Dana's yellow background was a delightful surprise - who knew yellow could be so wonderful???

Beverly used Batiks that look a lot like solids - wonderful visual impact!

Joyce almost didn't make it home with hers - because I wanted to steal it!  Love those aquas/purples :*D

Rosalie wanted "masculine" prints because this will be a gift for a special guy in her life - I think she nailed it!

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Besides, sewing and classes, Runaway offers a Silent Auction, a Live Auction, Door Prizes, Vendors, Block Lotteries, and much much more!  The food is pretty darn good too (especially if you like fresh salads and sandwiches LOL) =^..^=

On Tuesday, eight of us decided to make a road trip to Boonville, Indiana.  The Village Mercantile is a favorite shop for us to visit during Runaway - what an amazing shop!  They have everything!!!  And lots of it too :*)

Photo courtesy of The Village Mercantile

Photo courtesy of The Village Mercantile

Then we HAD to stop at the Tastee Freeze and get homemade ice cream - YUM!!!

I would have taken pictures, but my ice cream was melting LOL!!!

Mine was butter pecan scoops in a fresh waffle cone - I ate/licked every bite!!!

After that, we stopped at the Moonlite BBQ Inn in Owensboro KY for their famous buffet - 

YES, WE HAD ICE CREAM BEFORE LUNCH!!!!  

What's retreat for if you can't break all the rules, right???

As always, I wish I had taken more pictures to share with you.  And of course I took many more projects than I had any hope of finishing, but you can view THIS POST to see what I worked on while I was there.  I felt better knowing that I wasn't the only one taking untouched projects back home at the end of the week ;*D

This was a wonderful week, spent with wonderful friends - some I only get to see once a year!  

Is it any wonder that I'm already looking forward to going back next year?

And here's your daily reminder to check out the Crazy About Wool blog hop going on over at Denise's blog - Pieced Brain!  

Just another quick peek at what I'm doing....come back Thursday for the Big Reveal!!!  

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You don't want to miss today's fun projects at:

Marla's Crafts

Quiltscapesqs

Secretly Stitching

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Sew Many Yarns

Val Spiers Sews

Quilted Crow Girls Design

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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